Some realities that need to be faced

[IUNorth]

1. We have a really poor offensive line. Iowa’s Dline is probably middle of the road in terms of what we’ll face the rest of the year. The rest of their D is likely the best we’ll fade all year. But their biggest question mark wreaked havoc on our OLine. Not good.

2. We have a legit good defense. Take away the pick 6’s and we’re squarely “in” the game most of the game. And that would have been because of our defense.

3. I think it might be time to ratchet back our expectations for Penix. Obviously he’s capable of great things. But he’s also capable of play like we saw today. Unfortunately, in order for us to be a bowl team this year, he has to be great more than not. The good news is he won’t face a back 7 as good or better than he faced today.

4. Coach Allen might be the opposite of a Nick Saban, in terms of getting his teams prepared for huge games. His Bowl games have been terrible. We nearly always come out flat and get down against really good teams. Obviously he’s a good rah rah coach. His players love him. But at some point he needs to figure out how to have his teams better prepared.

5. Over/under on fans in the stands for home opener is probably around 35k now. We wouldn’t have sold out even if we had won. But this game will have a bad effect on attendance next weekend. It’s what IU fans do.

6. Name 6 teams remaining on our schedule that we’ll beat?

Idaho… yes

Cincy… not very likely

MSU… ?? After how they looked Fri?

Minny…. Should. But they played with OSU

Rutgers…. Should. But they’re getting a lot of talent.

OSU… no

At WKU… yes

At PSU… not very likely

at Maryland… ??? They beat a solid WVU team. They’re getting a lot of talent.

at Mich…. ??? Will their new staff have them playing to their talent? If so, then unlikely we’ll beat them. If not, we have a shot up there

At Purdue…. ??? Rivalry game. Their Dline will kill our Oline.

so 2 wins. A definite no. Some unlikelys, and a bunch of ??? Games.

And I dearly hope this is overreaction after a bad performance.

 

[iufreak18]

I think you’re overreacting with your predictions, but I like your post. 🍻

 

[StallmanCurse]

I don't know what you're thinking with a "should win" vs Minnesota. That game is a toss up. Iowa is clearly a tier above both of those teams.

 

[Bligedy]

1. We have a really poor offensive line. Iowa’s Dline is probably middle of the road in terms of what we’ll face the rest of the year. The rest of their D is likely the best we’ll fade all year. But their biggest question mark wreaked havoc on our OLine. Not good.

2. We have a legit good defense. Take away the pick 6’s and we’re squarely “in” the game most of the game. And that would have been because of our defense.

3. I think it might be time to ratchet back our expectations for Penix. Obviously he’s capable of great things. But he’s also capable of play like we saw today. Unfortunately, in order for us to be a bowl team this year, he has to be great more than not. The good news is he won’t face a back 7 as good or better than he faced today.

4. Coach Allen might be the opposite of a Nick Saban, in terms of getting his teams prepared for huge games. His Bowl games have been terrible. We nearly always come out flat and get down against really good teams. Obviously he’s a good rah rah coach. His players love him. But at some point he needs to figure out how to have his teams better prepared.

5. Over/under on fans in the stands for home opener is probably around 35k now. We wouldn’t have sold out even if we had won. But this game will have a bad effect on attendance next weekend. It’s what IU fans do.

6. Name 6 teams remaining on our schedule that we’ll beat?

Idaho… yes

Cincy… not very likely

MSU… ?? After how they looked Fri?

Minny…. Should. But they played with OSU

Rutgers…. Should. But they’re getting a lot of talent.

OSU… no

At WKU… yes

At PSU… not very likely

at Maryland… ??? They beat a solid WVU team. They’re getting a lot of talent.

at Mich…. ??? Will their new staff have them playing to their talent? If so, then unlikely we’ll beat them. If not, we have a shot up there

At Purdue…. ??? Rivalry game. Their Dline will kill our Oline.

so 2 wins. A definite no. Some unlikelys, and a bunch of ??? Games.

And I dearly hope this is overreaction after a bad performance.

Penix peed down his leg. He wasn’t ready from the first series on.

The transfer WRs sort of showed us why they had been passed up by other players at their old schools.

Jones was a disaster at LT.

2 walkons at running back was concerning.

The punt game was…..woof.
A lot of important pieces had really crappy days. I hope they can fix it. But if Penix stinks I’m not sure anything else matters.

And I hope all of the new transfers didn’t harm the locker room. There were some productive guys from 2020 that didn’t see the field much.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

Penix peed down his leg. He wasn’t ready from the first series on.

The transfer WRs sort of showed us why they had been passed up by other players at their old schools.

Jones was a disaster at LT.

2 walkons at running back was concerning.

The punt game was…..woof.
A lot of important pieces had really crappy days. I hope they can fix it. But if Penix stinks I’m not sure anything else matters.

And I hope all of the new transfers didn’t harm the locker room. There were some productive guys from 2020 that didn’t see the field much.

Two of the only bright spots in the entire game, well three bright spots, were the transfers. Handy, Anderson and Layne.
I see that Marcellino picked up right where he left off; making boneheaded penalties at inopportune times.

 

[SRIV94]

7. At least one of the people who put our uniforms together can't spell "Indiana."

 

[Bowlmania]

1. We have a really poor offensive line.

3. I think it might be time to ratchet back our expectations for Penix.

If you're ratcheting back expectations for Penix, it's because of your first point. Yes, there were some unforced errors in his first game back and yes he had a bad game (so did Justin Fields, against us, last season), but the guy, week in and week out, is pressured more than almost every other QB in P5 football. Our pass pro last year was abysmal and It looked equally pathetic today. Penix excelled last year in spite of a sh*tty offensive line. Today it caught up to him.

Penix is a huge talent. Going into the season, PFF rated him the 5th best QB in the country. HCs in the conference have sung his praises as well. But no QB can perform at a high level every weekend if they're under almost constant pressure.

Unless Hiller can fix things in a hurry, the offense is going to sputter, and not just against teams like Iowa. This is a major problem, and it's very discouraging. With experience and more depth, I expected improvement in the OL this season. Today, though, it was a train wreck.

 

[jlasson]

1. We have a really poor offensive line. Iowa’s Dline is probably middle of the road in terms of what we’ll face the rest of the year. The rest of their D is likely the best we’ll fade all year. But their biggest question mark wreaked havoc on our OLine. Not good.

2. We have a legit good defense. Take away the pick 6’s and we’re squarely “in” the game most of the game. And that would have been because of our defense.

3. I think it might be time to ratchet back our expectations for Penix. Obviously he’s capable of great things. But he’s also capable of play like we saw today. Unfortunately, in order for us to be a bowl team this year, he has to be great more than not. The good news is he won’t face a back 7 as good or better than he faced today.

4. Coach Allen might be the opposite of a Nick Saban, in terms of getting his teams prepared for huge games. His Bowl games have been terrible. We nearly always come out flat and get down against really good teams. Obviously he’s a good rah rah coach. His players love him. But at some point he needs to figure out how to have his teams better prepared.

5. Over/under on fans in the stands for home opener is probably around 35k now. We wouldn’t have sold out even if we had won. But this game will have a bad effect on attendance next weekend. It’s what IU fans do.

6. Name 6 teams remaining on our schedule that we’ll beat?

Idaho… yes

Cincy… not very likely

MSU… ?? After how they looked Fri?

Minny…. Should. But they played with OSU

Rutgers…. Should. But they’re getting a lot of talent.

OSU… no

At WKU… yes

At PSU… not very likely

at Maryland… ??? They beat a solid WVU team. They’re getting a lot of talent.

at Mich…. ??? Will their new staff have them playing to their talent? If so, then unlikely we’ll beat them. If not, we have a shot up there

At Purdue…. ??? Rivalry game. Their Dline will kill our Oline.

so 2 wins. A definite no. Some unlikelys, and a bunch of ??? Games.

And I dearly hope this is overreaction after a bad performance.

I agreed with you up until you got to the predictions, I think your applying our performance tonight as how IU will play the whole year. Idaho, WKU, and Rutgers are guaranteed wins, none of Rutgers' s talent has arrived yet, Maryland is still a very likely win, MSU and Minnesota are likely wins. Everything else is a toss up or unlikely, but I don't see us losing more than 1 game against the teams I just listed. MSU beat a bad Northwestern team, and Minnesota competed at home while CJ Stroud was getting settled in, they'll improve but I expect IU to handle that game at home especially given the unknown status of Mo Ibrahim. Even PU, granted I was too depressed after the IU game, but I really don't see any reason for them to take any major jumps.

I would agree with your predictions if this offense showed up every week, but as much as these coaches were extremely ill-prepared for game one, I expect them to be fine down the stretch, not good but fine. I also think the defense performed pretty well today given the atmosphere. I may have an overly optimistic view, but I don't think throwing out all of last year is necessary and just going on this game to make predictions is very logical, but only time will tell.

 

[hoosierfan13]

We'll beat Idaho and Western Kentucky for sure.

Rutgers beat a terrible Temple team. Don't look too much into the margin of victory.

Michigan State lost to this Iowa team last year by 42. Who knows what type of team Northwestern has this year. Johnson wasn't any good in 2019 and the team was 1-8 in the conference, Ramsey and the defense won the games last year and they're all gone. NU didn't look like they had athletes.

Minnesota lost to this Iowa team by 28 last year, and lost their best player who was giving OSU fits for the year. We get them at home in a series where the home team has dominated.

Purdue beat an Oregon State team that hasn't been relevant in 7 years. Who knows.

Maryland is hit and miss. They'll lose by 40 at Northwestern one week, then go to Happy Valley and win by 16.

Michigan always looks incredible their season opener. I'll reserve my judgment until they play in Madison week 5. They might have lost their best player (Ronnie Bell) for the year. We get them in between road games at MSU and at PSU.

I honestly don't feel much different than I felt a month ago when I was vilified for suggesting we could go 4-8. We could also go 8-4. There's going to be a lot of point spreads within a touchdown this year in the Big Ten. Iowa was the 2nd longest odds on our schedule. How this team responds at home against Cincinnati in front of a sold out crowd will be everything. Idaho gives them 2 weeks to prepare and play more disciplined.